Virginia Business Magazine: The Virginia 100

The rich got richer in Virginia last year. During the past 12 months, the portfolios of many of the wealthy swelled along with solid growth in construction, real estate, defense, wireless communications and the life sciences.

In fact, things were so good that 11 new entries appear on this year’s Virginia 100, our 16th annual list of some of the wealthiest and most influential people in the state. It took about $40 million to make the 2005 list, $5 million more than the year before. Making their debut near the top are two new billionaires, both women.

Last year saw many companies expanding and, in the case of Genworth Financial and New River Pharmaceuticals, pulling off successful IPOs. The increased activity buoyed personal wealth and helped the economy purr along, spurred by a presidential election and an indefatigable real estate market.

While the first half of 2005 has been bumpy — with investors and markets jittery because of high oil prices, rising interest rates and a fear of inflation — the uncertain economy hasn’t gutted business ventures of the rich. Billionaire Sheila C. Johnson, for instance, has already opened a gourmet market in Middleburg and plans a luxury resort and spa in Northern Virginia’s elite horse country.

She’s the subject of our cover and is one of the country’s wealthiest women. Johnson, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, gained her fortune from the 2000 buyout of BET by Viacom. To learn more about this businesswoman, see our profile on page 10.

The other billionaire is Winifred Johnson-Marquart of Virginia Beach. Forbes reports that she inherited $1.5 billion after the death of her father, Samuel C. Johnson, in 2004. He was chairman emeritus of S.C. Johnson & Son, the company that makes household staples such as Pledge.

Another newcomer is entrepreneur John M. Jacquemin. By buying commercial loan portfolios from struggling banks in the 1990s, he built a small equipment-leasing company in Vienna into a large private investment firm. Today, Mooring Financial Corp. has more than $350 million in financial assets under management, and Jacquemin’s net worth is nearly $70 million.

The rising value of stock in the 2004 bull market inflated the worth of many top executives, vaulting five new ones onto our list. At McLean-based NVR — one of America’s largest home-building and mortgage-banking companies — stock prices doubled over the past 12 months, shooting from just over $400 to $819 per share at one point. With thousands of shares, it’s no wonder NVR executives Paul Saville and William Inman made the list.
The strength of the booming real estate market also padded the fortunes of private company executives. Harry H. Hunt III and Albert G. Van Metre Sr. each reported gains, with Hunt’s net worth going up $18 million and Van Metre’s fortune increasing by $19 million. Cell phones, rather than real estate, put another new face on the list, Timothy M. Donahue, CEO of Nextel Communications.

New to this year’s project: an expanded methodology box on how we figure net worth, a list of major donations and a few fun facts gleaned from the Virginia 100

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